Dooring fears prompt bike lane rethink

Bike lanes across Melbourne are being redesigned in a bid to encourage cyclists to steer clear of parked cars to avoid serious injuries in having doors opened on them.

Traffic engineers in several councils are working on plans to put buffer zones between parked cars and bike lanes, to move riders away from the risks of opened car doors.

Melbourne City Council has started works in Clarendon Street, East Melbourne, to create a 60-centimetre separating strip between car parking and bike lanes, with plans to upgrade eight other routes.

Boroondara and Stonnington councils are also understood to be pushing for the traditional green-painted bike lanes to be narrowed and moved away from parked cars on roads, including Chapel Street and Glenferrie Road, which are notorious for so-called 'dooring' incidents.